Plain Rebecca Jane ([info]annaonthemoon) wrote in [info]hip_domestics,
2011-03-09 23:37:00
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Cleaning Flasks?

Ok, Hip_Domestics, I come with another cleaning question.

My husband and I use steel flasks to keep tea with milk hot while we are travelling, walking, or attending an event. Recently, we both forgot to empty the flasks and when I did I discovered we had made cottage cheese (ew). I cleaned out the flasks (or so I had thought) with a combination of bicarbonate of soda and plain vinegar, but the inside still looks like it has a "film" and my husband said the tea tasted funny the last time he used his.

I can't fit my hand inside to scrub, nor do I have anything with a long enough handle to reach inside. I have bottle cleaners, but even those don't reach all the way down to the bottom of the 1L flasks.

Help? I know I can get replacements at Wilko for cheap, but I'd like to preserve these if possible.

Reminder: I am in the UK, so some US cleaning products will be unavailable.

Thanks for your help!

(even better is if I can get them cleaned by Saturday, as we're off to a Garden Rail show)

ETA - left it overnight, no luck. Tried sticking a cloth on the end of a spoon to get at the bottom, no luck. Tried shaking it with rice, no luck. Having my husband pick up denture cleaning tablets on his way home from work, but I think we might have to break down and get new flasks :(

ETA2 - [info]jackmaybenimble suggested denture cleaner below. Worked like a charm!! Thanks!!

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  • 27 comments

[info]odyssey_road

March 9 2011, 23:38:54 UTC 1 year ago

Salt + Ice + lots of shaking? Something kind of abrasive to scrape the film off, you know?

[info]annaonthemoon

March 9 2011, 23:40:02 UTC 1 year ago

Yeah, my husband was considering using caustic salt in them, but since that stuff isn't food grade, I didn't want him to...maybe regular salt will work. thanks!

[info]interactiveleaf

March 9 2011, 23:43:16 UTC 1 year ago

Consider uncooked rice as an abrasive. But in general, I'd go with replacement; I tried everything I could think of, and a couple of things that *other* people thought of, when this* happened to me, and I ended up replacing my container.

* I didn't even leave it in overnight. My problems were just the result of routinely spending fourteen-hour days out of the house. The stuff just gets uncleanable after a while, yay milk!

[info]annaonthemoon

March 9 2011, 23:48:30 UTC 1 year ago

*sigh* yeah, I was afraid of that. At least Wilko's only charges £4 for a 1L flask. Tesco wants £10!

BUT - My MIL lent me a flask to use this week for my husband that FIL used at work....FIL has been retired now for 12 years and that darned thing was super shiney on the inside! (All MIL could suggest was bicarb, though)

[info]kayotically

March 10 2011, 03:00:32 UTC 1 year ago

Yep, I use rice, too. It's quite commonly used on baby bottles that mysteriously disappear and go rotten. (I;m talking a day or two - not a week. Those go in the trash - yuck)

[info]kat1031

March 10 2011, 00:35:45 UTC 1 year ago

Pickling or Kosher salt would be best. Something with a large grain.

This works really well - it's how we used to clean the whipped cream aerators and the milk and cream pitchers when I worked at Starbucks.

[info]jackmaybenimble

March 9 2011, 23:45:47 UTC 1 year ago

I have a Thermos cup I use at work - every so often I'm an idiot and leave it in the car overnight. Stewed tea. And sour milk. Excellent. Soooooo, out comes the boiling water, Steradent tablets, a toothbrush, and those little glass/acrylic stoney bead things you get. I leave it overnight after a good shake around, and in the morning give it a really really good rinse and its good to go. I wonder if the stainless steel may hold the taint more (if you get what I mean), but worth a try?

[info]annaonthemoon

March 9 2011, 23:49:02 UTC 1 year ago

What's Steradent?

[info]jackmaybenimble

March 9 2011, 23:52:46 UTC 1 year ago

Denture cleaner (I think mine is Boots own, or Sainsburys...probably all the same ingredients anyway). I get the long tube with about 15-20 tablets in them and they keep for months and months. They fizz like mad as they dissolve which I think helps. Or just makes it fun....

[info]annaonthemoon

March 9 2011, 23:54:37 UTC 1 year ago

LOL

Thanks, I'll have my husband pick some up on his way home from work tomorrow and see if it works!

[info]arrien

March 10 2011, 00:32:17 UTC 1 year ago

that is a good idea!!

[info]annaonthemoon

March 10 2011, 17:21:33 UTC 1 year ago

Worked like a charm! My husband picked up some Steradent for me. We didn't have any glass marbles, but I washed a handful of pea shingle to use instead. We dropped the tablet in, filled it about halfway with water from the kettle, tossed in the pebbles, and my husband shook the flasks really hard. We dumped it out and rinsed them out right away b/c my husband wanted to see if it worked (LOL). there were still a few marks, so we just used pebbles and hot water and shook again...this time, both flasks look brand new! Thanks so much!!

[info]jackmaybenimble

March 10 2011, 18:29:41 UTC 1 year ago

Oh excellent!! *clapshands* It's also fab for cleaning vases where the waters gone funky (it's not just me that leaves the flowers to the last possible ounce is squeezed out of them, right?)

[info]annaonthemoon

March 10 2011, 18:35:49 UTC 1 year ago

Nope, not just you! :D

That's great news, as I have a beautiful etched pitcher that doubles as a vase and it does get funky sometimes!

Wonder if it would clean the tea stains out of a glass tea pot? hehe

[info]jackmaybenimble

1 year ago

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[info]annaonthemoon

1 year ago

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[info]bopeepsheep

March 10 2011, 09:23:45 UTC 1 year ago

This. Steradent tastes far less unpleasant than Milton [Sterilising Fluid, also available in Boots, Superdrug etc], too, if there's any smell lingering first time it's used.

[info]kaze_no_yousei

March 10 2011, 00:00:11 UTC 1 year ago

I know its not green, but I leave a splash of bleach and warm water in my travel mugs for a few hours, shake vigorously and rinse and shake a few times to get that yucky milk smell out.

[info]annaonthemoon

March 10 2011, 00:07:04 UTC 1 year ago

I read on ehow that someone recommended using toilet cleaner in them, and I completely freaked out reading that because I would worry about residue, but I guess if you are mixing the bleach with enough water, it won't really matter, right?

[info]kaze_no_yousei

March 10 2011, 00:30:50 UTC 1 year ago

Sorry I didn't say that I use bleach that is made of sodium hypochlorite (most bleaches are) its pretty unstable and breaks down pretty quick. Its the chlorine they use to clean water, so its pretty safe, just toxic in large amounts. So rinsing a few times and leaving it to dry gets rid of it.

[info]kaze_no_yousei

March 10 2011, 00:32:13 UTC 1 year ago

http://www.lenntech.com/processes/disinfection/chemical/disinfectants-sodium-hypochlorite.htm

there's an article about how and why they use it to disinfect water.

[info]dakotakym

March 10 2011, 00:11:18 UTC 1 year ago

If there's a brewing supply near you, the stuff one uses to clean out carboys and bottles does the job well (the cleaning agent that comes in powder form & fizzes up; in the US it's called One Step or B-Brite). This is what I use in my stainless steel coffee pots and thermoses, and it works even if they've gotten funky.

[info]piperki

March 10 2011, 00:26:45 UTC 1 year ago

I just use kosher salt and warm water. It should scrub everything right out. Can you get kosher salt? It's a bit more coarse than regular salt, so it won't dissolve immediately.

[info]annaonthemoon

March 10 2011, 00:27:35 UTC 1 year ago

I don't know. I know I can get sea salt, though.

[info]deadchickens

March 10 2011, 00:39:49 UTC 1 year ago

You can wrap a washcloth around a long spoon handle to reach into it.

[info]lindaquelinda

March 10 2011, 00:44:09 UTC 1 year ago

buy a new toilet brush and try that? so long as it is *dedicated* to cleaning only your thermos, of course.

[info]kayotically

March 10 2011, 02:59:13 UTC 1 year ago

I use rice or grits, soap and water.
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